China Pours Rescuers Into Quake Zone as Aid Is Pledged

By Bloomberg News -
Apr 21, 2013

China sent thousands of military
personnel, rescue teams and utility workers into the
southwestern province of Sichuan where the country’s strongest
earthquake in three years left 1.5 million people needing aid.

Aftershocks, insufficient relief supplies and congested,
damaged roads delayed rescue efforts from the April 20 temblor
in Lushan county, about 1,650 kilometers (1,025 miles) southwest
of Beijing, China Central Television said. The death toll rose
to 188 today with about 11,500 injured, CCTV said.

The earthquake, measured at magnitude 6.6 by the U.S.
Geological Survey, hit on the same fault line as a 7.9
earthquake that devastated nearby Wenchuan in May 2008. That was
the country’s deadliest seismic event in more than three
decades, leaving about 87,000 people dead or missing, including
as many as 5,335 children, according to government figures.

Premier Li Keqiang, a month into his first term, rushed to
the region within hours of the tremor, in an echo of his
predecessor Wen Jiabao, who flew to Wenchuan to reassure people
that the Communist Party was doing everything possible to help.
State television showed footage of Li meeting local government
officials and rescue teams, visiting hospitals, talking to the
injured and climbing over the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The State Council urged the country to donate funds for
reconstruction and told non-emergency personnel to stay out of
the disaster zone to ease road congestion.

Sufficient Resources

The April 20 event was the strongest since April 2010, when
a magnitude 6.9 quake hit western Qinghai province on the
Tibetan Plateau, killing about 2,700 people and displacing more
than 100,000.

About 18,000 soldiers and officers from the military, armed
police forces and paramilitary reserve forces have been sent to
the Lushan area, while the Ministry of Public Security has sent
more than 2,300 firefighters to help with rescue work, according
to the official Xinhua News Agency. Almost 1,000 medical workers
and 202 medical vehicles have been dispatched to the region, it
said.

The Ministry of Finance said yesterday 1 billion yuan ($162
million) has been earmarked for rescue and relief work,
relocation of people affected by the earthquake, medical
treatment, subsidies for victims’ families and repairing public
facilities.

Drones Deployed

China dispatched five drones to capture images of the areas
worst hit by the earthquake, including Baoxing, Taiping and
Longmen townships, Xinhua said, citing the National
Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation. The
Shenyang Institute of Automation sent robots that can enter
ruins to detect life, it said.

Landslides cut off roads and knocked out power and phone
systems, hampering efforts by relief teams to get to villages in
the more remote parts of Lushan county. As of 10 p.m. yesterday,
the region had experienced almost 1,800 aftershocks, the China
Earthquake Administration said on its website.

Baoxing county, an isolated area that was one of the worst
hit, was reached yesterday, and rescuers with sniffer dogs are
searching for survivors, Xinhua reported, citing the Ministry of
Public Security’s rescue headquarters in Lushan.

Urban Area

Most of the buildings in the old urban area of Lushan
county and Longmen have collapsed, Xinhua said, citing the local
government. Many villages and townships are still cut off, it
said.

The State Administration of Work Safety ordered mining in
the region halted and the inspection of oil and gas pipelines to
avoid leaks and explosions, according to Xinhua. Sinopec Group,
Asia’s largest refiner, said no damage has been reported at its
production facilities in the area, Xinhua said.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) halted production at its plant in
Chengdu and told employees to go home to ensure the safety of
their families. The factory wasn’t damaged and will resume
output today, Akihiro Yamamoto, the Aichi, Japan-based company’s
China executive coordinator said in Shanghai yesterday where he
was attending an auto show.